SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 6 (Our California Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said President Donald Trump and the Justice Department were targeting him and his wife in a politically motivated “fishing expedition,” but multiple reports said at least some of the federal inquiries began before Trump returned to office.
Newsom made the accusation in a public X post and video statement, saying he and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom were on a “hit list.”
A Justice Department source familiar with the matter said there have been at least two criminal investigations in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California for about a year, and that they stemmed from whistleblower reports and local complaints in Sacramento.
The source said one inquiry involving former Newsom chief of staff Dana Williamson was opened during the Biden administration. Court records show Williamson pleaded guilty in May in a corruption case that did not implicate Newsom.
The full scope of the inquiries remains unclear. Unnamed sources in the reporting said the work began in California rather than at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.
